There isn't a whole lot you can do with the racing game template. Sure you can add power-ups, tweak the physics, and endlessly improve the graphics, but whatever you do, you've basically just got accelerate, brake, and get to the end fast. Instead of trying to add to the racing genre, "Crystal Spear Remake" strips it down to the most basic fundamentals, and ends ups with solid minimalist fun.
You can pretty much get the idea of the game from a single screenshot. You race through a predetermined course of 100 gates. Each gate has a big obstacle in it. If you hit it, you lose your speed. If you don't, you go faster. That's it. Really.
But in simplicity, there is fun. The game's HUD tells you, in big clear numbers, what gate you're at and what your current time is---exactly and only the information you need to compete with your own best time. Meanwhile the space-flight physics and pounding disco had me in the proverbial zone like no other racing game this generation.
Sure, this isn't something you'd pay even $5 for, but at 80 points (and the designer cheerfully notes that the course time limit means you don't even have to pay that), it's an ideal value proposition. Download, play, and enjoy, and don't come crying to me when you realize you've dropped $50 on racing games that were a lot less satisfying.
